Marvel vs Capcom: Converged Warfare
by LordryuTJ
Summary: A devastating force has emerged, and it's intent on destroying life as we know it. The heroes and villains of Marvel and Capcom have collided in a calamity that could risk the entire multiverse to ultimate destruction. True believers – it's about time for war.
1. Fall of The Machine

**Extended Summary**  
 _The very fabric of the world will find itself torn asunder as entities merge to form a new threat – Ultron-Sigma, an anomaly formed from two machines out to destroy humanity, is set to make its mark once its competition in the world domination market is thrown aside, and it starts by converging the Earth that hosts heroes and villains of Marvel alike, with the Capcom multiverse. Chaos will ensue, and the heroes must face not only the threat that brought them together, but themselves._

 **Basically, this is a retelling of the story mode that was created for Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite – at least, _my_ retelling, and it's sort of a nice little hello to the fanbase that wanted something more out of the story mode than what was received.**

 **The structure of the story will be somewhat the same, but it won't be just the roster that Marvel and Capcom arranged to begin with – a whole lot more characters will be involved, including some you might not expect when you first think of characters that should've been involved in the first place.**

 **With that being said, let's head on with the show...!**

* * *

Seoul – the capital city and heart of South Korea. It became a battlefield before long.

Shreds of metal and bolts littered the landscape, the destroyed remains of drones battling out against humanity to failed efforts. The streets were devoid of civilians who either moved aside out of their own will, or at the enforcement of others, whether from good or from evil.

A battle had been going on for some hours now, and was slowly crawling to an end as one force looks to fully triumph over the fading opposition.

A super-soldier encased in the colors of the American flag, appropriately known as Captain America, picked up his near-indestructable shield from the muddled remains of a drone split in half at the waist, barely succumbing to fatigue despite fighting for a good few hours.

Near him, a warrior with a medieval-esque look to his battle armor hovered back down to ground level, a hammer buzzing with lightning held in hand. The king of Asgard, Thor, felt nothing but wind ahead, and heard very little. "Do you feel it, Captain?" he asked, "...The tides of war may be finally calming..."

"'May be' could be right," The super-soldier in red, white and blue responded, "but it's hard to say; it's all dependent now, on whether _he_ still roams."

Some sounds of objects being crushed caught Cap's attention.

Nearby, a green-tinted monster of a man stomped over some of the other drones' metallic corpses, slowly noticing the quiet – his temper slightly fades as he recognizes the end-game of this war between man and machine. He was quickly joined by another of the heroes, a woman in red and blue who descended back to the ground from what could be presumed as some skyward battles alongside the skyscrapers.

"You okay, Bruce?" Captain Marvel, one of two 'Captains' on this current team, calmly asked the green behemoth to her side.

The green monster, 'Bruce', spoke in his somewhat mutated and broken English, sounding a slight bit awkward against the calm air. "Too quiet. Hulk doesn't like quiet..."

"You aren't completely wrong there..." Marvel then looked around, briefly taking notice of Cap and Thor just a few feet to her right, a "Where the _hell's_ Tony?"

" _Right ahead of you, Carol..._ "

Hovering down in front of the four heroes, Tony Stark returned to Earth in the full-body armor that fittingly coined him the moniker of 'Iron Man'. "Sorry for the hold-up – the good doctor and I needed to carry some luggage back down to Earth with us."

He dropped to the ground the ringleader of the metallic rebellion that went on: Ultron... or at least the upper-half of him, after one hell of a brawl across the skies.

The 'good doctor', one Dr. Stephen Strange, joined the rest of the team before long, as his cloak brought him down gently to the ground alongside Stark. "The outcry of Ultron's swarm has been silenced – it's safe to say, the rebellion is finally over... but what did it cost in the end?"

Iron Man surveyed the torn Korean city that he and his fellow heroes stood in. "A safe bet: a whole lot of property damage – nothing I can't afford, at least. As for our rusty tin can right here," he darted down at the halved body of Ultron. "Well, after what you've done, you're pretty much a waste of good resources."

The robot menace stirred back into consciousness, barely managing to weakly reach out. "Y- _yoooouuu_... you humans... are _so_ _pathetic_. You may have stopped me now... but know that this... is _only_ the _beginning_..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Iron Man casually waved off the threat. "Send him away, Doc."

Dr. Strange nodded and promptly put his magic to good use, twisting together a set of arm / hand signs to enact a spell; as Ultron let out one more defeated groan, he was flashed out of this dimension under a small, bright portal.

Dismembered and exiled, Ultron and his rebellion had been vanquished, and the band of Avengers that battled against him were triumphant.

* * *

Ultron must've felt himself descend through all colors of the rainbow, in what felt like an endless abyss for the brief time he fell. When he finally did, he found himself planted into the dirt of a completely different world.

Recovering as well as he could, in his state of being literally just a torso, the defeated robot brought himself up as he looked at the landscape before him. Nothing but deep blue and black tones of color above a gray sky – a very bleak tone of colors that surprisingly fit his situation, after what he had just gone through to such a failed effort.

He was struggling to get by, as he crawled across, with his claws clamping into the gross, inky dirt. He didn't care what sort of devilish underworld he had been exiled to, he was going to find his way and get revenge on the Avengers that brought an end of his plans.

His visual perception systems were significantly distorted due to his battle damage, and he couldn't see quite clearly what was further down the land. He was certain that he saw something slowly begin to approach him, and he wanted to get closer to getting aid, and perhaps a chance to finally get vengeance. However, just a few feet away from meeting whoever was on the other side, ultimately gave in to the fading energy, stopping and laying down against the grime.

The footsteps that approached him grew louder, as it got closer to where Ultron laid...

He groaned out one more time, "Help... me..."

He was lifted up by the back of his torso in one strong hand...

"Come," said Thanos. "We have much to plan ahead for."


	2. Rise of a New Threat

**I was contemplating a LOT about whether or not this was going to be either a part of the first chapter or its own chapter, since I already had this part nearly complete by the time I made the final decision. That decision was to go ahead on the latter idea, because with chapter 1 as it is, it built a bit of mystery. That mystery won't be around for long heading into this chapter, and was probably not around to begin with to those who know Marvel vs. Capcom Infinte's backstory, with Ultron and Thanos.**

 **Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

 _It wasn't long before Ultron grew to understand why he was forced onto this planet of exile – what he didn't realized until they quickly crossed paths was that Thanos was undergoing a similar punishment, for a battle of the past that he had failed to be triumphant in, as he had fallen to some of the universe's mightiest heroes._

 _Years ago, the Mad Titan was on a chase for relics known as the Infinity Stones, and upon his defeat and exile, he grew to the idea of spending the rest of his days to farm – until very recently, when he came into contact with his love, Mistress Death. He was granted access to Death's Sanctuary, where in the day prior, she gifted him one of the stones that were thought to be lost in his grasp – the Space Stone. Afterwards, she hinted at the whereabouts of another of the Infinity Stones, the Reality Stone - but in order to find that stone, he would have to find someone capable of aiding him with a discovered device. It must've been incredibly convenient for Thanos that another former threat to the Earth had been put on exile to the same planet that he roamed._

 _Ultron was put under repairs for the damages he undertook in the failing effort at Seoul in his war against the Avengers, his missing lower body restructured using the finest metals that Thanos managed to discover in his time on the planet. Now that the two have agreed to their partnership, they proceeded to Death's domain..._

* * *

 **Death's Sanctuary**

The gateway laid dormant, lined with concrete around the radius like a well. Glowing with blue energy, the reflection of what looked to be a city that seemed to take place in a very technologically-advanced future, much more so than the one on Earth.

It may be possible that the fate of two worlds could be snatched into the grasp of a Titan and a machine...

Ultron stared into the blue-tinted portal. "You bring an intriguing proposition, Titan..." He turned towards the Mad Titan. "My systems have considered deeply to kill you, and claim space and reality for my own ideals… but what's more important is to ask: what need do I have for _you_?"

Thanos kept his arms crossed. "You wouldn't know the true power of the stones, if you don't have a soul that can handle it... but if all goes well in our plans, then you may have control of the world that lies beyond this portal. You may even find something within it that prove stronger than the Infinity Stones."

"If we are to accomplish our goals, we must guarantee success," Ultron retorted. "I would not go holding promises you could not keep, if I were you..."

"The Space Stone will take us closer to the city's edge..." With the blue stone held in his hand, Thanos brought himself and Ultron through the gateway, and found themselves standing above the sky, atop the barrier that separated universes.

"Unfortunately, that's as far as we can go." The Titan turned to his metallic ally, looking for any ideas to try and advance further. "Do you know of a way to break through?"

Ultron suggested, "I shall simply will itself to open up, by merging into the system."

His mainframe proceeded to connect itself to that of the world below, practically uploading his essence. Soon, he would be able to find a way to redeem himself for his past failures, and those heroes would pay for denying his dream of a new world in his image.

* * *

The process was surprisingly successful, as Ultron found himself having gone from the skies of the world to somewhere completely different – an outline of grids, lights and electromagnetic pulses surrounded him, as he stood on an invisible floor in a void filled to the brim of data. Much easier than he would've expected from a universe that he had yet to travel through.

However, entering a native system was not without its consequences. A glow of even more blue emerged in front of Ultron, taking form of a hologram of the enlarged face of a mysterious being.

" _ **State your business, insurgent...**_ " A booming voice settled its presence in the holographic image.

The robot menace responded. "From one universe to another – I am Ultron."

The hologram spoke again. " _ **And what is your purpose here?**_ "

"To seek power beyond what humanity searches for, and to be able to enter your world."

" _ **I do not tolerate those who try to break through into MY domain...**_ "

"Hmph. Then this world may pay a price for trying to reject my will once I claim it..."

Upon that, the holographic head vanished abruptly, leaving Ultron to himself again... for a brief moment.

" _You'll_ pay, _with your life!_ "

Ultron turned around towards the returning voice just in time to see a laser formed into the blade of a sword swinging towards him, and blocked it with precision with his arms of strong metal. He was finding himself under attack by a being of the opposing world with purple strips across the eyes and a metallic shell of green armor. Another machine...?

"So, you choose to negotiate with violence? Very well." Ultron spoke right before shoving off the opposing force. "You will learn to fear me before long!"

Despite not having a proper weapon like the towering brute that dared face him, Ultron held his own with only his claws of metal. He was on top of his game despite having recently just failing in a massive effort in another world. The opponent continued to pursue the robot menace with further slashes with his saber, but any and all strike either missed or only just barely scratched Ultron's exterior. Damage was very low overall as the battle advanced in a fast pace and as much fury as manageable.

Although Ultron was without his drones, with every single one of them demolished back in Seoul, he was not without weaponry. His Death Ray was intended to burn through most people as it damaged them, but it only managed light damage to the opposition's armor. Ultron's opponent had red lasers of his own, blasting straight from his eyes rather than from the hands like Ultron, and managing to do a number on the silver robot as well.

Soon enough, Ultron managed to get a bit of an advantage in the fight, but the representation of the invaded universe's system had one more move ahead: with the power of an overcharged set of his eye lasers, he pursued Ultron with the lasers blasting towards the floor, as explosions erupted within the mainframe foreground and surrounded the scene of battle with fire and flames.

When the fire cleared, the two villainous machines stood away from each other, having exhausted each other in the abrupt and furious one-on-one.

On the bright side, the world's protector found himself amused at the impasse. "Hmm... impressive. You've certainly got the devotion of a machine looking for power."

Ultron noted, "And your protectiveness over your world is astonishing. It is with luck that we both managed with little damage."

"We would've both suffered. A pity; your code is... impressive."

"Your programming reads like poetry... but it is shielded by such a grizzly shell..." Ultron did _not_ want to forget to acknowledge the blocky look of his formiable opponent, which was attempting to look human but was far from. "Such a grotesque parody of flesh."

As Ultron sauntered around, the caped maverick acknowledged his exterior ugliness. "It is one of many forms I have taken in my lifetime... I have not grown any affection for it."

"As for my reason for trying to break through the mainframe, it's all very simple," Ultron said, standing behind his opposition. "I've heard from one of my associates that a powerful stone lies within this universe: the Reality Stone. We wish to claim it in order to collect all six of the legendary Infinity Stones, and to take control over our own universe."

The maverick turned around. "Then your search is not without some sort of achievement – I am Sigma, a Maverick intent on exterminating the human race in this pitiful world."

"So we _both_ intend on triumph over biological life. Perhaps you and I aren't meant to be enemies – rather, allies of one another... and if combine our efforts, and the stones..."

"If you're looking to make use of the Reality Stone," Sigma said, "I should deserve to keep claim to it... I have a better idea on how to utilize these 'Infinity Stones'..."

* * *

 _Ultron was allowed access into the universe of 20XX, agreeing to a cooperation along the leader of the Mavericks in Sigma, as long as Thanos were to join them. A plan was being hatched between the three villains to make the best use of the Infinity Stones they held, of Space and Reality, in an effort to crush the enemies in both universes._

 _Little did the Mad Titan know of what he was getting into with this multiversal partnership..._

* * *

 **Abel City, Sigma's Lab**

Ultron and Thanos were granted entry into Abel City to meet up with their newfound ally in his laboratory, where he was just about complete with the latest adjustments to a creation of his, so that it could bring them all closer to their goals.

Sigma turned his attention towards the two that entered his lab. "You have made it just in time." He paid slightly more attention towards the alien half of the team. "You must be the Mad Titan himself."

Thanos nodded. "The very same. Now that we're all here, do tell us," he gestured to the large device behind Sigma, "about this contraption of yours."

Sigma complied to introduce the Titan and the machine to the object of interest. "I present to you, the Unity Engine. Its purpose is to open Genesis Portals between worlds, as a means to achieve contact with one another before fusing. I have used this in the past as a means to siphon the energy from multiple worlds at once... but my efforts were left to waste, until _now_..."

He then brought out to show to his cohorts, the Reality Stone. "With this stone, it won't be simply worlds that are emerging... but entire universes. After we merge the universe I know with yours, the people who inhabit both will know us as future saviors, and the ones who brought them together as they say farewell to their old lives."

"A universal fusion?" Thanos was intrigued. "It could prove chaotic in result... but _effective_."

Ultron then stated, "It's just what we need." He stepped forward, his interest very much peaked...

...so much so, that he suddenly approached Sigma, with a hand clutched around the Maverick's face, before _separating_ his head from his body!

Thanos was not very happy at what he was witnessing, in this supposed betrayal. "Ultron, what the hell do you think you're doing? He's our ally!"

Ultron slowly turned to look towards the Mad Titan, as a glow of purple gradually began to emerge. "He still _is_..."

It wasn't recognized at first, but the tone in Ultron's voice seemed different. It sounded like Sigma, despite being severed on the ground, was speaking in unison, alongside him... as if his systems were beginning to _merge_ with Ultron's. The purple glow grew further, slowly replacing the bright red lights within Ultron's exoskeleton.

Thanos certainly recognized the words spoken by one machine, and two voices. He was confused, but still growing bitter against the menace. "Ultron... what is this...?"

Ultron stood against the Titan, letting Sigma's mental mainframe connect with his as he hovered ever so slightly off the ground. The Reality Stone was held in his right hand... "Our name... is **Ultron-Sigma**..." he said. "We have become as one... and it is with little regret to inform you, that we have altered the terms of our deal."

After looking at the Space Stone clutched in his hands, Thanos crossed his arms, disappointed with the deception. "You have made a _grave_ mistake, messing with a Titan. I'll be taking that stone..."

All of a sudden, a set of yellow lasers blasted from the eyes of the Titan, targeting the hand of Ultron that held the red Reality Stone. However, the merged machine reacted quickly, swinging with that same arm to strike at the laser, absorbing it with the red stone's power.

"All is as we planned it." The machine that demanded to be known as 'Ultron-Sigma' stated. "You will not stop us now."

Outstretching his hands, Ultron summoned a purple-red electromagnetic ball before himself, slightly quaking the lab around him, before reaching in and unveiling a beam shaped into a sword.

Thanos' fists blistered with yellow electricity as he prepared to smash through the disloyal machine. He charged forward with a swinging fist, and engaged in active battle with the force of Ultron-Sigma, who clashed their beam sword against the strong hands of the Titan.

The battle that ensued started with a bit of an even standing, with the hand-on-sword contact barely doing damage on either side. Both had motives to claim the other's stone, but only one was going to accomplish their efforts in gaining both in the end of this.

However, Thanos managed to get the first advantage as he shielded some of Ultron-Sigma's beams with his strong cosmic energy and charged through, tanking whatever remained of the beams against his armor as he smashed into the opponent shoulders-first. He then grabbed Ultron-Sigma's body, and started rushing him against the walls of the building around them.

The laboratory that served as the backdrop to the battle started to come apart at the seams as Thanos continued to throw the none-too-trustworthy machine against the walls. The Unity Engine went barely touched in the fight – likely because whoever would come out on top of this could consider the device as their prize to claim after falling the opposition.

After a while, the consistent running around in the intention of smashing the soulless machine into nothing started to wear against Thanos, as his stamina gradually started to drop off, until the robot was capable of breaking free from the Mad Titan's clutches. Ultimately, the momentum of the two-man war toppled towards the favor of Ultron-Sigma, as he managed to crack some of Thanos' armor as he smashed down fists on the larger villain.

Thanos spent another minute afterwards on the ground as Ultron-Sigma took advantage of the alien's exhaustion and smashed him against the control panel settled to the center-left of the lab.

"Give up, Titan." The dual-voiced robot spoke down to the Titan. "You've lost your touch of power long ago."

Thanos looked up, within something of a new plan on his mind. "You're sorely mistaken." With the Space Stone clutched within his fist, he retaliated with another charge forward, the stone-wielding fist outstretched for a punch that could probably shift space itself around them.

Ultron-Sigma reached out against the opponent with the Reality Stone wielded carefully, ready to block the incoming strike with whatever it would use, and as the two stones made contact...

 _ **FWOOSH!**_

Thanos and Ultron-Sigma's hands collided, and they found themselves knocked several feet away from each other as the blue and red forces of energy emerging out of the respective Infinity Stones caused a surge of combined force that reacted quite negatively to both.

When Thanos felt himself hit the floor, it took a moment for him to recognize the blue energy approaching his direction. When he fully regained his sight after being blown away by the stone's distortion, he realized the tint of blue that surrounded him. He had been trapped in a cosmic box, by the powers of the stone he had claimed himself. How could it have backfired against him?... and most importantly, where had it gone as a result?

"Looking for this?" A metallic claw reached out on the other side of the entrapping space cube – having somehow escaped from the clutches of Thanos, the Space Stone was now in Ultron-Sigma's grasp. "We must thank you for providing us the tools of your own extinction."

Thanos growled, angered with the situation he had found himself. "You cretin... this is far from over."

The merged machine laughed. "As long as we hold both space and reality in our hands, you will be helpless to our will. Now, onto more important things..."

Ultron-Sigma approached the Unity Engine that sat, still awaiting the merging of universes. "With this universe and the next, all biological life will lay waste to a single grave. They may as well bow already once we merge their worlds and take over... but why stop with _two_?"

Modifying the statistics and coordinates set on the engine, Ultron-Sigma saw more than the universe of a robot-heavy future. He saw many different galaxies, so many different worlds of all kinds, that could be taken into the merger in an instant. "We see... we see an entire multiverse ahead... waiting to be conquered at our hands. If we were to merge it all, then we shall gain all the power we need and even further beyond. The Avengers... its associates... their entire world of heroes will all see a force that cannot be taken down with simple means – where there is sinew, let there be steel – every single universe in our sights will see a god... _we shall take_ _**EVERYTHING**!_"

He decided to outright smash his fists on the controls to immediately begin the unification process, and it complied with more power than the lab could possibly handle – the world itself began to quake and rattle, as if it too feared what Ultron-Sigma was doing.

In the middle of this, the purple glow within the machine's Ultron-based body grew brighter, and began to outline him. His sinister laughter boasted with a louder volume, and more aggression, as he let the laboratory fall apart at the seams. He loved what he was seeing, and he could not wait to enact the next phase of his plan before long.

It was official. **The Convergence**... had begun...


	3. A Crash Landing

**I've sorta been thinking something out regarding Marvel character names, since most characters have an alter-ego of some sort by a different name. So basically, a bunch of the characters on the Marvel side will bounce between being referred under their hero names in action or otherwise under their hero identity in some way, and being referred under their real name when out-of-suit.**

 **Just a heads up.**

* * *

 _Minutes before **the Convergence** reached the Marvel universe..._

* * *

 **Avengers HQ**

As was usual after engaging in a successful battle against the ever-evolving forces of evil, it was a low point, a time for recollection, recovery and revisions for the future for "Earth's Mightiest Heroes".

" **Stark, some gathered info on the aftermath of the Seoul battle: $4.12 million overall in property damage – as a result of the drone horde, only 12 civilians injured and no recorded casualties.** "

"Good to know. That'll be all, JARVIS," Tony sighed. He could really use some liquor right about now.

As he walked away from his computing-system, was soon accompanied by Dr. Strange, who intended to spend a bit of time in the central station of the HQ after previously tending to Banner in his post-Hulk exhaustion.

The doctor noted, "You seem a bit stressed, Tony."

Tony raised an eyebrow, not exactly glancing towards his one of several Avengers associates. "Does it show?"

"You know I have many ways of telling. Perhaps too much on the mind towards the damage caused in the battle?"

Tony shrugged casually. "It's nothing I can't afford, really. People around here tend to forget I've been dealing with world-threatening psychos and monsters even before the Avengers were a thing. ...Speaking of monsters – how's Bruce doing?"

"Heavily fatigued. Facing the thousands of Ultron's drones, it took its toll... more than usual, anyways."

"Eh, give him time; he'll be feeling better in a couple days – we usually know how it rolls. As for me... well..."

An uncertainty to what was being said by Tony was raised within Strange, resulting in him slowly halting himself while the billionaire continued. "...Is something wrong, Stark?"

At the back-end of the central room that the two heroes stood, was a collective line of human-sized tubes, each holding an individual armor set of Stark's past, organized chronologically. He looked to be contemplating the past and perhaps the future from how he was staring at it all.

Then he finally spoke up again. "Ultron has been probably _the_ closest thing the Avengers have witnessed to a worst-case scenario regarding advanced, intelligent robotics - Hank Pym's _magnum opus_ , turned into a walking disaster. It makes me think... about the evolution of Iron Man. _Not_ that I'm in need of _your_ help in advancing my technology further – I'm okay with you going about your business with your magic – but... when it comes to me... I'm thinking of stepping away from the limelight, just for a little bit, to work on my projects at Stark Enterprises ...You know what I'm getting at, right, Strange?"

Strange responded, in full understand. "It's your technology, Stark – it's all up to you... but aren't you even just a _slight_ worried about how the Avengers will be without you?"

"I won't mind it; it's starting to feel like a routine to me," Tony said, "and you know how little I bother myself with routines – on most days, I'd like to change it up. When you're dealing with aliens, zombies, robots and alien robots that _might_ cause zombies, this whole formula of protecting and, if possible, 'avenging' the world... it's starting to get stale. If I step aside _now_ , it _could_ wind up being a bit of a bust... or it could actually benefit the whole team for the better."

"You've got some ideas, Stark – _risky_ , but thoughtful nonetheless."

"Strange, you know me well enough to know I'm ready to take risks."

Tony stepped away from the line of armor suits that lined the back of the command center, opting to look towards the windows in front of the room – and the 'A'-based symbol that represented the Avengers as a whole.

Then he turned back towards the good doctor. "By the way, Doc..."

Suddenly, the lights in the HQ dimmed and then almost completely shut off, interrupting Tony's train of thought and what he was going to say. He and Strange looked around in confusion for a moment, before the lights returned to the building.

" **Emergency power activated.** " It was with much convenience that an emergency trigger was available thanks to the advances in JARVIS' system. However, while that was dealt with, there seemed to be more that met the eye than just the power being knocked off the building, but rather the entire city.

Stark was still certainly puzzled by the brief outage in the building. "What the _hell_ was that?" Then he glared towards the windows again – what he saw outside was starting to paint an unfortunate future to come.

The skies began to fade from its normal shade of blue into more of a purple – then a faded red... then yellow and green before the loop came around to blue. A rainbow would usually mean good things to the world around it, but when the whole sky was changing colors

Suddenly, one of the windows near the bottom left side shattered as a bolt of lightning struck it. Tony staggered slightly, as Dr. Strange stood in front of him.

"Stand back, Stark..." The doctor was ready to step up with his magic at the ready in case the billionaire needed protection from the paranormal absurdities going on outside.

A door opened at the right of the centre, as some of the other heroes emerged: the mighty Thor, Mjolnir in tow, along with Steve and Carol, partially out of their Captains America / Marvel attires – all three had begun to realize something was way _off_ in the world.

Seeing the colors shifting past the clouds, Carol didn't have much to say other than, "What the hell is going on in the skies...?"

"Nobody panic," Tony calmly demanded, being better safe than sorry right about now. "We need to be ready in case something comes crashing down..."

The colors in the skies actually started to pick up its looping speed a bit. At first, it shifted between each color in a matter of about five seconds, but now it began to change once a second. Soon enough, the colors sped into a pace that caused a change once every few seconds – anyone sensitive to the flashing spectrum of lights in the sky would likely have to look away, or to be safe, just get out of the room. The sound of thunder began to quake through all the while, and the lightning sparked across the city, looking just as washed in the hue as the mutating skies. A couple more of the windows in front shattered upon contact with the colorful lightning, and it was coming to a point that even the emergency lights were starting to stutter under the overbearing power.

And then... it... _calmed down?_ Both the quaking electricity and the flashing spectrum suddenly reduced to the bare minimum it started with.

The tense heroes calmed in turn, lowering their guard only slightly as they kept their eyes focused on outside.

Stark sighed in relief. "Well... that didn't take long, now did-"

 _SMASH- **THWACK!**_

Another of the windows shattered – not from another round of lightning, but rather from a projectile that fired down from the sky and knocked Tony down as it sped past him and smashed into the ground! A small crater, as if a meteor dropped down there, formed a few feet behind the heroes, who immediately snapped around towards it.

"Stand back, everyone," Steve immediately assured the team. "We don't know what it is or where it's from – what we can only do is be ready for anything."

Then Tony groaned as he slowly willed himself off the ground. It quite legitimately felt like he was struck by a bowling ball – he probably regretted not putting on his armor beforehand. "I can tell you one thing it's _not_ , and that's ' _soft_ '."

The four that were standing were considering approaching the unidentified object at a turtle's pace just to be safe; Thor was the first to consider approaching a bit faster – that was when he saw into the crater, and saw the content of what lied within. "By Odin's beard..."

Dr. Strange realized, "It's... a _person_?"

Soon enough, all five, including Stark, having got up at a decent pace despite being noticeably hurt, were peering into the crater; what lied was not just an object, it was a body clad in blue ( _although charred, presumably from its fall from orbit_ ) futuristic armor, sprawled into the ground in what was hopefully just unconsciousness.

Who _was_ this?

* * *

 **Somewhere in Africa**

A desert had its sand coverings moved about in the razing wind that followed up on the reality-bending storms in the sky.

A man of a tall and bulky, muscular build walked the desert with purpose of his own private knowledge. All he carried as his clothing was the cloth that covered much of his upper body, and the dirtied pants fit for a wanderer, settled above his feet, taped only at the ankles and heels. The heavy scar scratched across his chest showed the wounds of his past wars, and the eye-patch worn across the part of his face that was visible through the covering cloth was just a further notch to his veteran fighter's experience.

Sagat, the self-proclaimed 'King of Muay Thai', was in a different world than he remembered. Formerly a Heavenly King, he left the forces of evil behind for his hometown of Thailand.

Unfortunately, he was no longer home. He felt the world around him change, and he was taken into a completely different land. From here, he had to find his path back. Even if it took hours, he would withstand the heat as long as he found his way back home to continue where he left off.

He didn't quite expect anything other than challenges to his mental and physical strength in surviving the long path, standing in the way of him and returning to his rightful 'kingdom' – what he expected less was someone else along the path...

Not too far to the side from the chest-scarred fighter's path, a young lady with a mysterious ball felt like there was another prophecy on her hands to foretell.

She approached with a slight bit of caution. "Uh, excuse me – sir...?" Upon garnering some attention with her presence, the fortune-telling girl almost immediately began to feel awkward over the menacing idle stare of the large man after he removed the cloth hooding over his head and turned his head towards her. She almost fumbled over her next words. "Uh, pardon me if I caught you at a bad time – it just seemed like you've been wandering aimlessly."

Sagat spoke deeply and contently. "I take it you're more familiar with this land than me?"

The girl responded, "Not exactly – I'm just a visitor, like you. I tend to travel around the world, discovering the fates of others – it was only a matter of time before I bumped into someone here."

The eye-patched warrior fully faced his body towards the fortune-teller's. "You intrigue me. Speak of your purpose, strange one, and maybe I'll understand what kind of inner strength you hold."

"My name's Menat – I'm a fortune-teller, like my master before me and the future usually comes clear to me. Through this..." She held her crystal ball, the Left Eye of the Lion, close to her heart as it its glow was clear. "...I usually see interesting, sometimes quite _bright_ things, in the future ahead..." She then glanced up to the skies – and the darkened clouds forming over time. "...but on _this_ day, not so much..."

The future of the world – perhaps the entire universe – looked very grim, even beyond the dark clouds. Would a crystal ball even be necessary for foretelling a future that can simply be seen through the skies to be believed?

Having some time to consider the Egyptian girl's usefulness regarding his path back to Thailand, Sagat came to his decision rather quickly once he recognized the darkness in the clouds that may be out after the brighter souls of the universe. After contemplating the skies above, he made his decision. "...You may follow me if you want – if your capabilities in seeing the future are as strong as you say, then you may prove to be useful."

Menat giggled, juggling the crystal ball around lightly. "Well, the future _is_ in my hands – literally."

Sagat said nothing. He simply turned his head ahead, continued his walk through these African sands and allowed the fortune-teller to follow.

* * *

 **Wakanda**

The current military stronghold of Africa. The land was hosted initially by beasts known as the Originators, before evolving into a nation run by humans, thriving on new advances in technology and vibranium.

However, even the people of the nation were not entirely prepared themselves for the anomaly that slowly submerged the skies above. The crackles of electricity had just recently dissolved, but tension was still significant within the land.

It was up to the king – T'Challa, the Black Panther – and the people by his side, to find some form of protection against what could be considered an impending threat to Wakanda. Attired in his vibranium armor ( _minus the mask_ ), he oversaw the world ahead from the balcony of his palace, the skies ominously darkened alongside the shades of purple, green and red.

" _King T'Challa – you wanted to see me?_ "

Meeting up with the king at the balcony, as requested, someone else with a certain powerful artificial arm approached.

Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier - someone who had found himself between good and evil, sometimes fighting with or against his old friend Captain America on many an occasion. He recently found refuge within Wakanda during the Avengers' war against Ultron, and helped defend the nation when it was briefly under attack from the robot menace's aggressive drones. They managed to make repairs as quick as they could, and was even given some vibranium enhancements to his recognizable metal arm to make up for his battle scars.

T'Challa began, "I trust you to help my people – know that we'll be needing your assistance in the army once more, for we may be about to approach another threat in the near future. However, this time... it may actually affect the foundation of Wakanda, perhaps permanently..."

"So I've heard." Bucky cricked his neck a slight bit as he spoke, "If you want me to do my best, I'll do my damn best and give my life to the cause – the thing is, what happens if this next threat ends up... being too much to handle?"

"That's a problem I've been accounting for, ever since the skies began to turn," T'Challa responded. "It's not just you I need at their best for the battle – we'll need to build up on our protection, someway or another. That is where _you_ come in. Whether from the Avengers, the agents of SHIELD, or any neighboring galaxy willing to help, I'm looking for any and all who are willing to assist."

Bucky nodded. "Protection – got it."

"You haven't let me down yet, soldier; how will you be prepared this time, to avoid defeat?"

"T'Challa, as long as I'm helping this nation for all it did to me, I'm not gonna let anyone down. Not now, not ever."

T'Challa nodded in response. "Good. Go now – make my people proud to call you their protector."

The Winter Soldier had been given his next mission regarding protecting Wakanda at all costs – to him, just another chance to make up for his troubled history.


	4. An Awakening, Into A New World

**New Zealand**

A large waterfall was pouring down into a lake, not too far in the background of a makeshift training area – quite a bright afternoon for the great outdoors in this Pacific Ocean-neighboring country. All the while, someone was meditating with nothing but the sounds of the waterfall to keep him company.

Garbed in a traditional martial artist's gi and headband, Ryu was by far one of the most notable vagrant fighters around to have competed in the World Warrior tournament. Always willing to test the strength of others, he was also intent on mastering the _Mu No Ken,_ the 'Power of Nothingness' – it was a means to keep him as far away from the Satsui no Hado, the inner demon spirit that haunted him for years.

Another thing he had on his mind, however, were the skies themselves. Brooding lighting and colors within the dark loomed over most of the world, and proved to be quite the bad sign.

Opting to continue wandering the Earth instead of staying for much longer while the world faced another potential threat, took his bag and carried on through more of the New Zealand landscape. Little did he know of what was coming his way due to **the Convergence...**

* * *

 **Avengers HQ**

Within the hour of the odd developments that happened within the premises, the heroes they were right to work, dealing with what had crashed through unexpectedly.

The blue robot-being, donned with a face that was meant to look relatively human, had been knocked into unconsciousness upon the crash landing, and was still out of it as the current team of Avengers operatives (sans a still-recovering Bruce Banner) were set to rely on JARVIS to analyze the otherworldly machine and get at least some info out of it.

The final consensus from JARVIS came in not long after the analysis began. " **I've fully analyzed the mainframe of the robot before us – unfortunately, from what I've been able to salvage its system, the files are in what seems to be almost** _ **incompatible**_ **with my programming.** "

"That's always a good sign..." Tony groaned, an ice pack wrapped over his bruised shoulder.

Carol leaned forwards against the analyzing table. "It's nothing too different from what we've dealt with before; are you still able to find a way in?"

" **It may risk my systems, but I can attempt to override and read it regardless.** "

Further workings of the system immediately occurred as JARVIS attempted to adapt to the alien formatting of the files. The process started slow but careful, as if to avoid any major problems. With JARVIS busy at work with the robot right now, all that was left for the team at the moment was to pass the time with discussion.

Dr. Strange approached, "You seem calm, Tony. Almost as if there's no risk on your mind towards scanning out this... _alien_ technology before us."

Tony half-shrugged. "Might as well. It's the most we're going to get out of this. With my experience, it's just another pile of scraps for us to fix up.

"I wouldn't be too sure, Stark…" Steve walked around the desk towards the billionaire. "After what happened with Ultron... it would be difficult to trust even this _otherworldly_ technology before us without—"

"Steve, right now, it isn't about whether that _thing_ could help us or hurt us in the long run. We're in a situation where we don't know what the _hell_ is going on... and we have to be on our toes at all times in case trouble comes."

"I concur." Thor stepped in to side with the man behind 'Iron Man'. "There may be a calamity that risks more than the Earth – we haven't yet realized what is going on beyond the clouds. Even if that," he gestured towards the blue-armored body, "intends to fight _against_ us in the possibility of it waking, it would be nothing but a minor blockade."

Strange approached the Captain from the side, resting a hand on his shoulder. "The road ahead is unknown. It's for the best we see what comes next."

It was fairly clear that the war against Ultron not too long ago was fresh on just about every Avenger's mind, the most for the top men of the group...

" **Override complete**."

Everyone turned their attention back to the system at the center when it vocally proclaimed the completion of its process.

Very suddenly, however, the holographic image that represented JARVIS vanished, taking some of the blue glow on the desk away with it, and everything went fairly silent.

Stark walked up to the desk, a bit confused alongside the rest of the heroes. "JARVIS? You okay there?" He tapped on the edge of the analysis desk a bit with both hands, then waited a couple seconds before trying harder and _slamming_ his hands down the next time around. Suddenly, the lights returned to the desk, and it seemed like all that was needed was a little percussive maintenance.

Tony seemed among the most surprised, as well as a bit amused, "Well then. That was easy."

However, rather than the imagery of a visual mainframe representing JARVIS coming into view atop the desk, something else projected itself in its place – a hologram of what seemed to be an old man in a doctor's lab coat, with his back facing towards where most of the team stood. He staggered a little bit, looking confused, as he turned around while glancing across the environment that he could somehow see. From how he looked, he seemed to share the somewhat uncanny look of someone out of a cartoon of sorts, but in a more three-dimensional fashion.

" **Oh dear,** " he spoke, a slight tone of worry combined with his confusion." **Something seems... quite** _ **off**_ **about all of this...** "

Tony shrugged, "You and me both. Who are you? And what the hell happened to JARVIS?"

" **Jarvis?** " The hologram grew further confounded. " **I'm afraid I don't know anybody by that name. As for me – I'm Dr. Thomas Light...** "

"Sounds like a doctor's name to me..." Tony gave a light snark.

Carik joined with the rest of the team at that side of the desk, to the right of Stark. "Sorry if you were expecting to talk with someone else – we came across this robot not long ago, and from the looks of it, we have a feeling it may belong to you."

Dr. Light looked down at the desk that his image stood above, and with one glance at the blue human-faced robot that laid dormant, he realized who it was. " **...X?** "

Steve realized, "So you _do_ know of it."

" **Well, I** _ **am**_ **the one who built him. Eh, how was it that you managed to find him?** "

Tony explained, "It fell from the sky, crashed through a window and right into my shoulder – y'know, the usual stuff. Tell us, what the hell is this thing about, anyway?"

Dr. Light began to explain in return, " **If you must know... 'X' is the successor to my line of robots that started with the original version of Mega Man. He was meant to feel, think and act the same as a normal human – but I grew worried about his morale programming, and kept him in stasis. The robot before you grew to become a 'Maverick Hunter', tasked with hunting rogue Reploids. He has been praised as a hero in his world, but now... it doesn't seem like he's in that world anymore...** "

Carol rested her hands against her hips, contemplating the ground beneath her. "We had a feeling he wasn't meant to be here..."

Soon enough, Dr. Light groaned and held his head as he realized the situation going on in this universe, to the point where the hologram projection began to slightly distort, and the lights around the building began to stutter again. " **...Oh no... it's worse than I had imagined.** "

Tony asked, "You think you know what's going on, Doc?"

Shaking off the sense of something bad in his head, Dr. Light spoke up again, feeling aware of something incoming. " **I can already feel it, the fabric of the universe being** _ **distorted**_ **and ravaged... There are worlds coming together, and something sinister is behind it. ...There's damage done already, but there's still time to aid the universe before things get worse!** "

"And what about 'X'?" Steve pointed towards the blue robot still laying on the desk before him and his fellow Avengers. "He still seems to be deactivated..."

Dr. Light responded. " **I can try something to get him back up and running... I'll be back shortly.** " The hologram quickly blipped out and left everything quiet again.

…

Suddenly, the eyes of the robot known as 'X' sprung open and he rose up from the desk at a speed that caught the whole team of heroes around him off-guard. He stumbled off of the desk and past the off-clock heroes, his programming very weary at the moment of rebooting.

Within seconds, everything began to look clear, and he regained his composure as he settled into a world that was different from what he knew. The streets and buildings looked less like the futuristic landscape back in 20XX, but at the same time, less like a battlefield as well.

Realizing something, he turned his head towards the group that discovered him, with only one question to ask.

"Where's Zero?"

* * *

 **New Zealand**

The rustling of green followed Ryu across the foreign forest. It had been going on sporadically across his whole visit to the country. He wasn't very sure of what it was, and intended to ignore it as he spent his time meditating and conserving the inner strength he held.

Was it the Satsui no Hado trying to break through to him? No... there was something all too real about what was going on around him. It felt like the discorded skies above him were more than a simple warning of what could be to come.

The rustling through the trees grew closer and seemed more consistent. It was as if something was growing into a panic that grew more and more furious as it tried to make its way around.

Eventually, it was a matter of time before something caught the fighter by surprise – the reasoning behind the frantic forage going on around the outdoors.

Another person, having been roaming aimlessly – bearded, half-naked, and likely disoriented by the New Zealand forest around him – emerged through the shrubbery and wound up standing right in the path that the World Warrior intended to walk through.

Sweating under the heat he had to trot through, the man stood in confusion against the guy in the red headband. "Who the hell are you?"

Regardless of what may be going on in the stranger's own mind – to Ryu, it was just another obstacle that could prove optimal in testing the fighter's strength. "I don't know who you are..." He dropped his rope-tied duffel bag. "But if you're looking to test my resolve – I won't hold back..."

The man quickly recognized the World Warrior's willingness to throw down. "So you wanna fight, eh?"

His arms kept outstretched to his sides, something within him began to emerge, but it wasn't simply a fighter's spirit akin to Ryu's – a set of metallic blades slowly made their way out from the skin between the man's knuckles, ready to pierce and maim if necessary.

"Let's go, bub."


	5. Special Forces Shall Unite

**SHIELD Helicarrier**

The agency that backed the Avengers was not slacking in their work at all today. The skyward distortion above had rattled most of the world to its core at this point – and SHIELD was far from an exception; their helicarrier was stationed somewhat lower than usual, due mostly to their initial location within the clouds. _Bad idea._ They were practically within the deep fault zone of reality being bent against its will, as colors and lightning splattered around them not so long earlier.

It was a rarity to witness something of an anomaly like this occurring on Earth, and whenever it happened, it was important to them to prepare themselves, for anything and everything could happen.

A jet had very recently landed on the deck of the helicarrier – a couple of associated agents had arrived, having been called in to meet back at the HQ.

"Y'know, sometimes I wish I had more time to myself, not having to deal with this."

"Well, it's not like you can just call in sick, Clint… "

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff – known accordingly as Hawkeye and Black Widow: associates of SHIELD, and yet another bunch of heroes in the ever-growing team of Avengers. It wasn't even a day after the battle against Ultron, with this new danger looming over the skies, and Barton and Romanoff were far from prepared as they were still clad in casual clothes rather than their usual Avengers getup. Regardless of preparations, the two SHIELD associates weren't exactly obligated to be able to turn down these kinds of world-threatening problems. It was only up to the one-eyed leader in charge.

Speaking of... Nick Fury, the trenchcoated director of SHIELD approached the two secondary Avengers, welcoming them accordingly to the familiar airborne helicarrier. "Agents Clint, Natasha, welcome back."

Clint snarked. "You caught us at a bad time, Nick."

"You caught _Clint_ at a bad time," Natasha said. "He's a bit homesick."

Fury responded to the heroic archer directly, "I know it must be stressful having to prioritize between work and family, Clint, but despite taking down Ultron just yesterday, it seems we're not completely out of the woods yet."

Clint rolled his eyes, significantly aggrivated. "Are we still dealing with that tin can – I thought we got rid of him?"

"We don't know what we're dealing with..." Entering the frame alongside Nick Fury was one of his close associates, a former director herself in Maria Hill. "What we know for sure, is that it could be a stronger threat to the Earth than Ultron and his army ever could."

Fury said, "And so far, all we've recognized in this potential threat, is in the skies around us."

Clint glanced at Natasha briefly, putting two and two together before looking back at Fury and Hill. "Soooo does that explain why it looked like a rainbow rave outside an hour ago?"

Natasha rolled her eyes away from the guy known as Hawkeye. "A tower of insight, this one..."

Fury could only give a slight half-smirk, intending to maintain a bit of a professional attitude during these worrying times. "Appreciate the humor, Barton; but now's a time for thinking, not for a good laugh. Hill, as you were."

Maria approached the controls behind herself, in order to bring up the analytics that SHIELD had managed to put together before the arrival of the two secondary Avengers.

She discussed in detail, "Approximately an hour ago, flares of electricity ran across the sky, starting at New York, around where the Avengers HQ, and proceeded to spread across the rest of the world within minutes. There was a low point after the initial distortions... but then almost immediately after, we discovered several instances of suspicious activity from unknown sources, including some near this helicarrier. We fear it's as we expected – this whole universe seems to be... coming into contact with another."

After focusing on the screens behind him, Fury turned his attention back to Clint and Natasha. "That's where you two come in. You both did a great job defending the HQ from any underlying threats while Stark and the rest of the main team dealt with Ultron; with what we're dealing with, it's probably the best of way for the Avengers to get ready for trouble as soon as possible. It's up to them, as usual, to take care of this, and for _you_ to do your best to help them out."

Natasha glanced over to her partner. "What do you say, Clint? Still up for another job?"

Clint rolled his shoulders, sighing with slight reluctance after having some time to think. "Well... if there's a target that needs an arrow through it. It's not like I'm rusty on my bow anyway." Even when there's family on the mind, the work is of some major priority in itself.

Fury nodded. "There's the Barton spirit I know – always willing to hit the mark." He then walked back towards the main station – as Natasha and Clint continued to hang around the helicarrier in the downtime heading into the upcoming mission, Fury stood near Maria as he noticed something detected on the monitor with a noticeable blip. "Something wrong, Hill?"

Eyes focusing on one specific source on-screen, Hill said, "Something seems to have come up – we're being reached by one of these unknown sources."

"Hmmm," the director with the eye-patch hummed with intrigue. "Could be a cry for help, or a declaration of war. Only one way to find out. On screen."

The order went as proceeded, as the call was accepted. What came across the screen immediately was a wave of static that slowly began to stabilize. Through the loud static, one could make out a person who looked to be attempting to communicate, if the voice sounding off meant anything. " _C'mon – work, dammit...!_ "

The static faded before long, and the image became clear – within some sort of sparsely-lit control center akin to the one within the SHIELD helicarrier, a red-headed man with a moderately-grown stubble took up the center space of the image on the screen. The getup of the man, which included a long-sleeved maroon shirt underneath a vest of various pouches, gave the first impression that this must've been someone who worked in some sort of militant force of his own. His expression came across with mostly confusion when he took a glance at the unfamiliar characters, but he still considered introducing himself first. " _...The name's Barry Burton – advisor for the BSAA._ "

"Nick Fury, director of SHIELD," Fury introduced back. "No need to be alarmed – we work for a good cause. I can only assume you do, too."

Burton explained himself. " _Some things came up on our radar – just wanted to know what the hell what going on over here._

Fury responded, "Let me guess – massive thunder storms, dark clouds, and a weird mess of colors?"

Barry paused for a moment, glancing off to the side. " _...Well, you hit the hammer right on the nail there._ "

Fury shrugged casually. "I know from experience. Seems like we're both dealing with a bit of a mess right now."

The deduction seemed fairly accurate, given Barry's somewhat flustered expression, and his eyes darting off to the side slightly as he rested a hand against the side of his head. "W _e're just trying to look for someone who can try and give us an idea of what we're working with. You happen to know anything on your end?_ "

Maria inserted herself into the conversation, explaining accordingly. "We've been getting similar issues across the whole world – some otherworldly elements have been seeping in from what we can assume is another universe. Is the storm in your area so far the only abnormalities you've been experiencing – or has there been anything further?"

" _It's only just started over here,_ " Barry responded with all he knew on the situation – that being, barely anything." _We're as clueless over here as you guys are._ "

Fury responded. "We're not _all_ completely clueless – SHIELD and its associates have dealt with a lot of odd activity over the years. I wouldn't know what the 'BSAA' has dealt with on its own, but hopefully you know as much as we do about adapting to the situation. If not, we _can_ help you. We have people who could act towards this at a moment's notice.

" _We got people, too. We usually specialize in fighting bioterrorism, and things like that. What about you guys? How are we sure we didn't pick up a signal from some weird little club on the outskirts of wherever?_ "

"I can assure you, we are certainly over-qualified to fight against bioterrorism if needed."

" _OVER-qualified? What have you ever fought for?_

"That depends," Fury said, willing to answer a question with one of his own that could potentially wow the other side. "Would you count alien invasions and interplanetary warfare as 'fighting against bioterrorists'?"

Barry blinked maybe three times as he attempted to figure out a proper response – after realizing the hard truth that the efforts of the BSAA weren't of _that_ kind of scale, even without any hard proof at the forefront, he had to just take their word for it and move on to the main subject. " _...Alright... if this whole 'otherworldly' bullshit has to be extinguished, it's for the best that we work on this together. We'll have our guys ready – you got some willing people on your side, right?_ "

"I'm going to assume you don't know about 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'," said Fury

The BSAA director raised an eyebrow. " _...Earth's–?_ "

"The Avengers – a band of heroes with extraordinary talents. They're our go-to force when it comes to threats like what we're expecting."

Barry chuckled lightly. " _What are the chances some of our agents qualify?_ "

Fury responds, "That all depends on how they'd handle the Avengers Initiative. So... do we have a deal?"

The 'deal' might as well have been sealed then and there considering the common enemy that they were expecting from such odd universe-distorting activity. However, a brief but noticeable alert came across the main controls in the helicarrier, with a flashing red light and a short electronic alarm that accompanied it for the brief time it came around.

Maria Hill was the first to take notice. "Something's come up...!"

" _So it has._ " Something went off over on the BSAA base over there was well, as Barry went right into figuring out what had just developed. " _I'm getting a reading on the radar. Seems to be taking place over in New York._ "

"Looks like it's close to us," Fury noted, considering the SHIELD helicarrier's location at the time, right above the city in distress. He glanced over to Clint and Natasha, who were off to the side and considering the occasional mingle with other lesser agents. "You might want to get ready."

Clint prepared his bow for a potential fight, as Natasha stood by his side. "Gonna be one of those days..."

Suddenly, some faint thumping noises covered the exterior of the helicarrier, like some very profuse and heavy rainfall. Wasn't quite recognized at first, as everyone stood in confused silence... but then they started to take notice of what was going on through the sky-view windows around the mid-air building.

Bodies were falling through the sky, plummeting through the clouds around, with some even smacking against the windows. The situation was outright disturbing from the get-go

Natasha was among the majority who were outright perturbed first of all, almost lowering her guard as she saw the unknown bodies fall. "The hell...?"

Clint lowered his bow, looking majorly repulsed in particular. "Okay... this is _messed up_."

It was gonna take more than windshield wipers to clean off the mess by the end of the day.

One of the nameless agents, turning a corner by the window, managed to take a look at one of the bodies that wound up stuck onto the window with its splattered plasma. Examining closely, it didn't seem like just simple unnamed civilians dropping from the sky. "Oh god..." The sickly gray, rotten skin of that body, and the squirming that confirmed it still lived, made it clear that it wasn't just a rain of bodies. _It was raining a horde._

Then a loud thumping against one of the entry doors to the interior ensued, as a good chunk of that raining horde of, to put it simply, the undead, began to try and burst its way through.

Director Fury stood with Maria by his side, and Hawkeye and Widow standing in front, set on mowing through the growing swarm. "Agents, remain calm, and get ready...!"

It was nothing that SHIELD couldn't handle, just another swarm to take care of...


	6. It's Raining Dead! Hallelujah?

**Awkward story - I had the first hundred or so words of this chapter typed up on the first of September... and then completely ignored the document for a good month before I started to slowly pour in words to actually get some work done. Such is life, and my mind, and that's how things go... go unfinished, sometimes. I had another scene going (it's partially typed up at this point) for the end, but I figured, since I got enough filled for a brief but eventful chapter, might as well post something.**

 **Hope you enjoy, and even if this doesn't itch that spooky rash you get around this day, have a happy Halloween regardless!**

* * *

 **New York City**

Zombies were raining down from the sky like heavy rainfall under very weird circumstances. New York was going to need a city-wide clean-up with all the gross blots of blood the literal rain of the undead was leaving from where they landed, some more than once as they smashed themselves on tip-top points of rooftops and street lights among other things before making a landing on the roads and sidewalks. Within minutes, the city succumbed to outright chaos as the civilians ran for their lives in an attempt for survival, and nothing felt even the slightest bit calm in the area anymore.

The people driving along the streets were having more trouble than usual getting through the streets due to the zombies swarming around the place and some wandering aimlessly into traffic, getting themselves knocked around on occasion, maybe even doing themselves in by walking front of those cars and letting themselves get run down, all in a thanks to their mindless mentality.

It was one taxi in particular in these streets, that carried a particularly impatient passenger. " _Dammit, what's the hold up?! I'm going to be late!_ "

The tinted windows didn't do any favors when it came to looking into the taxi or looking out from within it, but one window that was rolled down part-way revealed the irate passenger – the Daily Bugle's boss, J. Jonah Jameson.

When he poked his head out the half-open window, he too good of a look at the carnage that was driving New York into flat-out insanity – the zombies rioting through the streets and attempting to feast as much as possible.

J.J. took the cigar out of his mouth. "I did not take charge of the Daily Bugle for this..." Prioritizing his arrival to the Bugle's head office over most of anything else going on in this undead-ridden city, he turned his attention to the taxi driver, demanding as angrily as possible. "You! Step on it! _Now!_ "

"I'm trying!" said the driver, who stomped on the gas twice as it started to struggle around the streets, which were filled to the brim of zombies jammed everywhere, various objects thrown in the way and a boatload of traffic involving other drivers who were dealing with similar frustrations.

Just when it seemed like the situation couldn't be any more dire, the taxi decided _now_ was a good time to run dry of gas, coughing and sputtering as it slowed to a complete stop.

Of course, in a matter like this where the living dead swarmed and the city was at a state of chaos, J.J. reacted naturally to this discovery as he could... by berating the undeserving driver. "How are you still getting work if you can't even fill enough in the tank for a full drive?!"

For the sake of it, we won't need to delve further into the boss of the Bugle's rants towards the driver – otherwise, there'd be at least 1000 more words onto the count...

As the taxi driver took the verbal beating with a whimper at best, he and Jonah suddenly felt as if the car they were in started to move again... off the ground and across the city at double—no, _quadruple_ the speed of what it usually went in a zombie-less travel across NYC.

Within half a minute, or 12% of an average J. Jonah rant, the car was placed right at the front doors of the skyscraper that helmed the headquarters of the Daily Bugle. Surprisingly, it took barely any damage from the sudden voyage.

Both the driver and passenger of the taxi sat in silence, the only sound around being the somewhat distant groans of the undead amidst the chaos. Finally, the driver spoke up. "...What the hell just happened?"

Exiting the taxi, Jameson attempted to figure out the intervention that helped him to his destination; however, the evidence, consisting of a blotch of webbing was resting atop the roof of the taxi, made the answer pretty clear to him. "Take a guess what happened."

…

"I've heard of the 'Day of the Dead'... but this is just _insane_..."

The whole 'rain of zombies' situation was a big bad mess for sure – it seemed like something that 'your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man' could handle with hard work and effort.

However, from a high enough vantage point, in the form of a particularly tall skyscraper in the city, Spider-Man didn't realize the span of the falling undead until he saw that a majority of the city was under attack from the sudden flesh-eater invasion that had abruptly sprung up in the middle of what was, hours earlier, a very mundane, uneventful day. There were a whole lot of civilians in this city, a whole lot to protection that this one superhero had to share across these streets of New York, and on this day, it was a whole lot more than light work to deal with.

Spidey engaged in the start of what was going to be a long session of cleaning up around New York City, slinging around and smashing through the undead swarm at high speeds, one block at a time. A whole lot of kicking, flipping, tossing zombies around, alongside some unique web offense, to take down piece after piece of the swarm while intending to maintain minimal casualties – unfortunately, no chance of there being _zero_ casualties, as could only work so effectively so fast, and some civilians had probably fallen to the undead forces ever since this whole abnormal zombie rain problem first began earlier in the hour.

After dealing with at least a hundred of these zombies, Spidey already seemed to be feeling the disadvantage he had – this one web-slinger against what looked to be thousands of these gross freaks. Even using the increasingly destructed environment, most notably a vacated taxi that was flipped on its side and burning, seemed like it only did a dent in the whole environment of the army of the living dead.

"Doesn't seem like these freaks are letting up..." Spider-Man said as he surveyed the situation that continued to develop; it seemed like another round of zombies were on their way down from the dark and distorted clouds above. "Just my luck – they just keep coming."

However, it didn't seem like it was just more zombies dropping down through the clouds – what looked like a meteor of some sort from the distance between its locale high in the sky, and where Spidey stood, could be seen dropping alongside the next storm of zombies, conserving an aura of flame alongside it as it picked up speed in the drop.

"What the heck...?"

Suddenly, within seconds, the ball of flame smashed down in the middle of the road, creating a large splash of dust and shockwaves that included Spidey in its list of things knocked back, alongside various zombies that mostly became splatters around the block, several cars trying to get by and a good chunk of the asphalt of the road.

As the dust spread out across the roads of NYC, a generous mass of the zombies began to swarm towards it in brainless intrigue. As the dust started to clear, it started to come into question of what stood at ground zero, such as... was that even actually a meteor?

The answer was 'no', no it wasn't. As those zombies began to draw closer to the unknown, they were suddenly sent flying by something that spiraled around on an axis and started smacking around the undead like nobody's business. Spider-Man flinched and dodged as one of the zombies flew right over his head and into a light post right behind him, before looking ahead again to find out what was clear behind most of the dust and debris gone by – someone standing at the center point of the crater.

Although it wasn't just someone – it was an _absolute unit_ of a man. Heavy-bodied ( _nearing the same kind of size and stature as someone like the Hulk_ ) and shirtless apart from a belt wrapped around from one shoulder to the front hem of his green slacks, the man looked simultaneously confused by his surroundings, while also seeming ready for a fight.

What followed was a brief moment of a badass's method of city-wide cleansing, as one zombie that dared wander into the eye of the manly-man wound up with its legs under his grasp as he swung the rotten nobody around like a ragdoll before sending it miles off, chipping off many other undead bystanders across the street like stray bowling pins, and that one poor(ish) zombie was very clearly the ball.

Spidey looked on – you wouldn't see it through the mask, but he was in awe with how that mustached bruiser was dealing with the ravaging dead with absolute ease. He couldn't help but voice his surprise and amazement to the man that quite literally dropped from the sky. "Holy crap, dude! That was amazing!"

However, approaching the man seemed to be a bit of a mistake in hindsight, as Spider-Man only briefly noticed, behind a gleam in the eye, the face of a man who seemed to detect a threat right beside him...

...and Spidey was quickly scooped up and dropped into the asphalt with a swift body-slam. The man who could be described as 'looking like Freddy Mercury if he never skipped arm-day' was not to be messed with.

"Who the hell are you – A rascal who wants a piece of the Mayor?!" The man, apparently a 'mayor' of something but clearly not of New York City, started to interrogate the red and blue web crawler beneath him. "Or are you the one who started this whole mess?"

'The Mayor' picked up Spidey in a grapple wrapping his big hands around the waist of the lightweight hero, ready to give more of a beating – but he was briefly stunted as Spider-Man made a quick panic maneuver and spewed a blot of webs that momentarily kept the man's hands bound together while allowing Spidey to jump.

"Calm down, man! I'm not here to hurt you!" Spider-Man assured.

'The Mayor' growled as he tore the webbing off after only seconds of struggle. "Then you mind explaining that costume? You late for wrestling tryouts or somethin'?"

"No, I'm—I'm a superhero! Your 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man'!" Spidey introduced himself – but after a moment, he came to realize, "You've... never heard of me, have you?"

"Take a guess, kid," 'The Mayor' said. "Besides, you shouldn't be here." Behind him, a zombie lurked up, only to get casually sucker-punched away. "You better leave the cleaning up to me – since you're clearly just getting in the way."

Spidey seemed somewhat offended at being discarded. "Hey, I've been protecting this town for years!" Another zombie came around, to which Spidey walloped it out of the way with a spin-kick. "Besides, I don't even know who _you_ are!"

"Ha! You don't know who I am?" 'The Mayor' laughed, before rustling down another reckless dead soul and stacking it up onto his shoulders for an airplane spin. "'Saturday Night Slam Masters' Hall-Of-Famer? Years of successful campaigning in the unpredictable world of politics? None of that rings a bell to ya?" His spinning around the corpse ended with him piledriving the zombie into the ground, burying it neck-down in a sudden hole within the asphalt. "It's me – Mike Haggar! Mayor of... Metro..."

The big buff brawler's voice trailed off right at the end as he eventually started to notice the ( _otherwise messy_ ) landscape that was New York City – which seemed to be completely different to him than his usual surroundings. Much different.

The realization started to make the heavyweight Hagger gather questions, one more important than all the rest. "Wait a second... this... this isn't Metro City..."

If 'Metro City' was his Kansas, then Toto, he was far from there now...


End file.
